When particulate material such as reduced iron oxide is agglomerated with conventional briquetting rolls, the individual briquets are in generally uniform rows and columns connected by webs of agglomerated material, forming a continuous sheet. For handling and transporting the briquets, the sheets must be separated into individual briquets. A number of approaches to the separation of the briquet sheet into individual briquets are disclosed in the prior art. The use of impacting rolls is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,864; breaking by means of a rotating impact roll is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,815; the combination of impacting and bending the sheet emerging from the briquetting rolls is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,763; and bending the briquet sheet both longitudinally and transversely to fracture the connecting webs is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,978.
As is discussed in greater detail in the last mentioned patent, the strength of the connecting webs of metallized iron briquets is much stronger than that of the briquets. It is, accordingly, difficult to separate the briquet sheet efficiently into single briquets without crushing or irregularly breaking the briquets.